Like anybody with a soul, I suffer from soullessness that permeates the entertainment world. Most of the time, I work on music and don’t have the time to think about it too much (not that I don’t see it). When I am compelled to react to the somber (and extremely annoying) fact that we as a culture seem to be steadily moving toward a standardized, Soviet-like reality in which people do not develop their senses fully, and are happy to consume utter crap, I remind myself that there is plenty of good music around, and if somebody wants to listen to God awful junk, then good riddance, they very well deserve it (and I don’t want to save them).

Here are five songs from my friends. They are good. All different, and all good.

!!! I am no wordy music critic. I am hands-on. I like to point at things and say, “this is good.” It’s much easier this way.

Yuli Yael Beeri Yula and Yuval Semo

Tristan Avakian

Sonia Montez

Nightshades (Gabriel Gordon, Aaron Johnston, Jonathan Levy)

Rain Perry (this is a cover of a Gillian Welch song)